Approximately 1-3% of the general population is affected by a tennis elbow. In particular the age group between 35-54 years of age suffers from this complaint, with men and women both being affected to the same degree by this medical condition. Contrary to popular belief, a tennis elbow is not usually caused by playing tennis. This cause only accounts for 5-10% of patients.
It is known that a tennis elbow (medical term: epicondylitis lateralis) involves a degeneration of the tendon of the muscle known as “musculus extensor carpi radialis brevis” (ECRB).
The object of treating a tennis elbow is to alleviate the pain in the elbow and to return the elbow to its normal function as soon as possible. To this day, it is not known which type of treatment is most effective. The most commonly used treatments of a tennis elbow are: physiotherapy, a brace, immobilisation by putting the elbow in plaster, surgery during which cuts are made in the affected tendon, and percutaneous interventions. The latter treatment is discussed in more detail below.
In medical practice, it has been found that a treatment of the affected tendon in the case of a tennis elbow by means of various manual penetration operations of this tendon by means of a penetration means can be effective. Whether this so-called “percutaneous intervention” is more effective than surgery is not known, but it is less invasive which means that the patient can resume his/her activities after such an intervention much sooner than after surgery. These penetrations often are combined with injection of for instance corticosteroids, blood platelets, autologous blood, dextrose or hyaluronic acid.
However, with a percutaneous intervention, it is a problem to determine the exact position of the needle with respect to the patient, in order to ensure that the correct tissue is pierced and a correct position of the penetration means with respect to the patient's arm is achieved. As of yet, this treatment is often performed by hand and without ultrasound guidance.
In European patent publication EP 2,377,475, by the present applicant, an apparatus for treating tennis elbow is described for carrying out the percutaneous intervention of the elbow tendon in a much more convenient, standardized, fool-proof way.
From Swiss patent publication CH 396,311 a device is known aimed at stimulating the blood circulation in the skin by stimulating the skin with needles. The device is unsuitable for carrying out a controlled percutaneous intervention, however.
A drawback of the apparatus of EP 2,377,475 is that the positioning of the penetration means, both before and during penetration, requires a very high degree of accuracy. The known devices leave a lot to be desired in this respect. Another disadvantage of the known devices is that, before or after penetration, unwanted injuries can be sustained due to accidental touching of the sharp tips of the penetration means.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for the treatment of a tennis elbow by means of percutaneous intervention, wherein a very high degree of accuracy is provided when positioning the penetration means, both before and during penetration. A further object of the invention is to provide an abovementioned apparatus, wherein unwanted injuries, before or after penetration, due to accidental touching of the tips of the penetration means are prevented.